LONDON -- Nine radical Islamists pleaded guilty Wednesday to involvement in a terror plot aimed at high-profile targets in the UK's capital, including the US embassy.
The men, with roots in Britain's Bangladeshi and Pakistani communities, were arrested in counterterrorism raids on Dec. 21, 2010. The Mumbai-style attacks were said to have been inspired by the preaching of American-born Al Qaeda cleric Anwar al Awlaki, who was killed in a US drone strike on Sept. 30 last year in Yemen.
Four of the men admitted Wednesday to planning to plant an improvised explosive device at the London Stock Exchange. They were named as apparent ringleader Mohammed Chowdhury, 21, and Shah Rahman, 29, from east London, and brothers Gurukanth Desai, 30, and Abdul Miah, 25, from the Welsh capital, Cardiff.
Four men -- Omar Latif, 28, also from Cardiff, Nazam Hussain, 26, Usman Khan, 20, and Abdul Shahjahan, 27, all from Stoke-on-Trent, central England -- admitted lesser charges of preparing for a terrorist attack. Mohibur Rahman, 27, also from Stoke, admitted possessing terror-related material, namely two copies of the Al Qaeda magazine Inspire, which contained articles like "Make A Bomb In The Kitchen Of Your Mom."
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Osborne, senior national coordinator for counterterrorism, issued a short statement responding to the guilty pleas.
"We welcome the guilty pleas entered by all nine defendants today [Wednesday], following what was the largest counterterrorism operation of 2010," he said. "Our priority is and always will be the protection of the public."
The suspects were facing a number of terrorism charges, including conspiracy to cause explosions likely to endanger life or damage property and preparing for acts of terrorism between Nov. 1, 2010, and Dec. 21, 2010. They changed their previous not guilty pleas to guilty after legal discussion Monday.
Police raids on Chowdhury's house in East London turned up a target list including the names and address of Boris Johnson, two rabbis, the American Embassy, the London Stock Exchange and the Houses of Parliament.
The nine men will be sentenced next week.
No comments:
Post a Comment